


Bucky Barnes Hates the Heat

by pherryt



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo [3]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Bingo, First Kiss, Little bit of angst, M/M, Pool, heat - Freeform, lots of fluff, mild panic attack, somebody's ticklish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 18:24:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19978519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherryt/pseuds/pherryt
Summary: Bucky Barnes hated the heat.Most of the Avengers had apparently decided that the Winter Soldier and Captain America both would have embraced the heat, due to their years long of being frozen.They were wrong.





	Bucky Barnes Hates the Heat

**Author's Note:**

> for the bucky barnes bingo - square :Heat!
> 
> Not beta'd. running late to work! *waves at you all*

Bucky Barnes hated the heat.

Most of the Avengers had apparently decided that the Winter Soldier and Captain America both would have embraced the heat, due to their years long of being frozen.

Steve’s attitude did nothing to disprove this. But Bucky knew he neither noticed, nor cared. They’d talked about it once, about Steve going under the ice, but Steve apparently didn’t remember it very clearly, and he certainly didn’t remember the wake-up process.

Bucky did.

Bucky may not remember each and every time he was frozen and thawed out, but he remembered enough of them. And the others were right, you’d think that the repeated trauma would make him _hate_ the cold.

But when he was cold, he wasn’t the asset.

When he was cold, he could rest.

He had come to look forward to those times, those breaks where he wasn’t at war with himself. He’d heard people speculate on his name before, when he was known as the Winter Soldier. His enemies had coined it because of his cold and impassive demeanor. His captors because he’d fallen in winter.

The other avengers – but Steve, most of all – wanted to distance themselves from what Bucky had been before. They thought the very name would be a reminder of all the things he hated.

Tony kept the tower warm for his and Steve’s benefit, but to be honest, it was draining. And there was no way in _hell_ he was going outside in this heatwave currently going on. He could say something, but his and Tony’s relationship was still built on an uneasy truce. Telling Tony to stop might give him the impression that Bucky didn’t care about the olive branch he’d extended.

Dammit. He missed his hoodie, but it was too warm inside the tower to accommodate his desire for soft comfort.

Laying sprawled out on his bed in a tank top and his boxers, Bucky stared up at the bland ceiling. Fuck, he couldn’t take this anymore. “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

“Could you lower the temperature in here? I’m sweating like a pig and I feel like I’m dying.”

“My apologies. SIR thought you would have an aversion to the cold.” The fans clicked on and blessedly cool air washed over his body, Bucky closing his eyes in relief before groaning.

“He’s not the only one who seems to think that,” he said mournfully. “I like being warm as much as the next guy, I guess, but there are times when it really is a bit too much. And this is it.”

“If you would permit, I could tell –“

“No!” Bucky sat up, biting the word out sharply, eyes wide in panic. “No! let’s just… keep this our little secret. I’ll deal with the rest of the tower as I have to, but let me control the temperature in here and nobody has to be the wiser.”

“Of course, Sergeant Barnes,” JARVIS assured him, and Bucky relaxed back onto his bed.

Not like anyone ever visited him in his own rooms anyway. Everyone gave him his privacy, let him choose his interactions with them and for that he was fucking grateful, leaving his room a sanctuary for when things became too overwhelming.

Therefore, he was a little surprised a knock echoed through his rooms. He sat up again, panicking. Was it Steve checking in on him? Would Steve keep his secret from Tony? Or had JARVIS already spilled the beans – it was Tony’s AI, after all – and it was Tony, there to demand to know why Bucky had thrown his thoughtfulness back in his face?

“It’s Agent Barton at the door,” JARVIS said, unprompted. “Do you wish me to send him away or let him in?”

Bucky swallowed, but of all the options, that was the best. Clint wasn’t judgmental and he and Clint got on fairly well. Usually they simply co-existed in the same space without words, like Clint knew when too much was too much for Bucky, and Bucky liked that. Liked Clint.

A lot, actually.

Flushing, Bucky called out shakily, “Uh, he can come in, JARVIS.”

“Very well.”

The door slid open and Bucky, remembering himself, stood and exited his bedroom to his sitting room, finding Clint there and half naked with a towel over his shoulder.

“Oh man, I was gonna suggest the pool but I might just live here instead.” Clint flopped down on the sofa with a blissful sigh.

“You can control the temperature of your own rooms,” Bucky pointed out, though his stomach did a little flip over Clint’s words.

“I know, but my rooms are a disaster, and I wanted some company. Why is the rest of the tower so _warm_ anyway?” Clint whined.

Bucky scratched the back of his neck. “Well, you know, Tony. He’s uh, trying to make me and Steve feel comfortable here, I guess?”

Clint groaned. “But what about the _rest_ of us?”

Bucky shrugged. “I don’t know what to do about it, not in a way that won’t offend him. I’m sorry.” Bucky bit his lip a little. “If you want, you can… you can hang out here when it gets to be too much?”

“My savior!” Clint beamed up at Bucky. Then he blinked. “But are you sure? I don’t want to intrude. I know you need your space.”

Bucky sat next to Clint. He’d finally stopped sweating and the chill of the room was starting to get to that nice comfortable state where he could done his hoody again if he wanted to. But he didn’t get up, content to stay here, next to Clint.

“Just warn me you’re coming and my bedroom is off-limits, so if I really need space,” Bucky shrugged. “But uh… this offer extends only to you. I’m not ready for everyone else to invade yet.”

“You sayin’ I’m special, Barnes?”

Bucky flushed and looked down, shrugging again.

“Awesome,” Clint said softly, still grinning, but his eyes glued to Bucky with something unreadable in them that made Bucky’s stomach flip again.

Clearing his throat, Bucky said, “So, uh, pool?”

“Nope. I’m not moving now. If you wanna go, you’re gonna have to carry me,” Clint said.

“I can do that,” Bucky said, laughing. “Easily.”

Clint poked him with a toe. “Hey! I’m bigger than you are!”

“Yeah, but you’re all skin and bones,” Bucky said, resolutely _not_ looking at the well-defined muscles of Clint’s arms in particular or the rest of him in general.

Squawking in protest, Clint poked at Bucky again with his toes. Bucky snatched them and Clint poked with his other foot, getting Bucky in the ribs and startling a laugh out of him. Clint’s eyes lit up. “Is the fierce Winter Soldier _ticklish?”_ he asked.

“No!” Bucky blurted hurriedly.

Grinning, Clint launched himself at Bucky and they soon devolve into a wrestling match that had them both panting and sweaty, sprawled out on the floor.

“I thought the idea was to cool down,” Bucky said, grinning down at Clint.

Clint stared up at him with a breathless smirk. “That’s before I discovered the _Winter Soldier_ was _ticklish_. Seriously, Bucky, this is a _gold mine_.”

And that, that there, was one of the reasons Bucky liked Clint. He didn’t shy away from who Bucky had been, didn’t tip toe around it like it would break Bucky to hear the words. Bucky knew what he had done, and he had his nightmares, but he hated how the others treated him, sometimes, like he was made of glass.

“Bucky?” Clint’s concerned voice broke through and Bucky realized he’d been crouched over Clint, just _staring_ at him, for who knew how long. Clint probably thought he was having an episode, was regretting his teasing words and Bucky couldn’t have that, couldn’t have Clint changing who he was around Bucky because Bucky like Clint the way he was and he _really_ liked Clint and, and, and –

“can I kiss you?” he blurted out. Then the groaned and closed his eyes. “Oh fuck.” He couldn’t believe he’d said that out _loud_. He made to roll away, to give Clint the space he obviously wanted, when a hand reached up and tugged at his tank top.

“I think kissing would have the opposite affect of the cooling down we were wantin’,” Clint said, breathlessly. Bucky opened his eyes and blinked down at him. _Wait, what?_ “But uh,” Clint licked his lips. “I’m game if you are.”

“Really?” Bucky asked, incredulousness threading through him along with hope.

Clint’s fingers tugged again, his lips curling into a shy sort of smile, and Bucky melted into it, into Clint, their lips meeting hesitantly, warmth of an entirely different sort, a more welcome sort, flooding his body.

They eventually made it to the pool, the blessedly cool water sluicing over their skin, their bodies still gravitating towards each other.

Now that he had permission to kiss, Bucky didn’t ever want to stop. Laughing, they fooled around in the pool, splashing at each other between kisses. Clint pouting when he discovered bucky was way less ticklish in the water and Bucky just smirked before kissing the pout off Clint’s face.

They were lost in each other, in the kiss, Clint’s hands threaded through Bucky’s hair, when the door opened.

Bucky froze.

Steve and Tony , Nat and Sam and Thor came in, all dressed for the pool – which, well, that’s where they were, so of course they would be.

Steve wouldn’t judge, Bucky knew that. But what about the others? God, where had his self-preservation gone? First, he’d blurted out his desire to Clint without even feeling the man out first, now they were kissing in public – _public! -_ where their own teammates could see them _._

“Awww…. Look at the little love birds,” Tony said, smirking from behind Steve. “Guess I don’t need to worry about his 40’s sensibilities after all.”

And to Bucky’s surprise, Tony reached for Steve and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips. Steve, apparently, wasn’t so surprised, returning the kiss eagerly.

Sam sighed and stared mournfully at Clint and Bucky. “You couldn’t have kept that under wraps a little longer? I was really enjoying not having to worry about stepping into a room with those two in it, together, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Tony has no shame.”

“None,” said Nat, sliding into the water. “Steve’s not much better.” She let out a sigh of bliss and set to floating languidly through the water.

“Breathe, Bucky,” Clint said softly into his ear.

“They don’t care?” Bucky said, his voice coming out more strangled then he’d like.

“About what? About us?” Clint looked him in the eye and smiled. “No, babe. If you’re happy, they’re happy. Unless they catch us fucking in the kitchen.”

“That was _one time_!” Tony shouted just before Steve tossed him into the deep end.

Bucky dropped his head into Clint’s neck with a sigh of relief, his body relaxing. This was good. He was good. _They_ were good.

He wasn’t sure how he’d got here, but he wouldn’t trade here for anything.

Clint held him close and Bucky smiled. Their bodies were pressed close and he could feel the heat of Clint’s breath along his neck, the cool water as it lapped around them when another Avenger leaped in.

This kind of heat he could deal with. It was the kind that reminded him he was still human. It was the heat of human contact. And not just anyone, but _Clint_ , who’d accepted him as is, mess and all.


End file.
